Over a decade ago, my boyfriend and I dipped our toes into the roiling hot tub that is home ownership. At that time, the Louisiana Housing Commission was offering a Soft Second program, a home-buying assistance loan which would pay up to $85,000, and after ten years of residency, the […]
Mother’s Ham Bake
Discover a few secrets behind the slice at a restaurant on the edge of the Warehouse District that’s been serving the “world’s best baked ham” for over 80 years. Mother’s might get all the hype for its roast beef debris po-boys, fried chicken, and red beans and rice, but the […]
New Orleans Food News: May 2025
As sure as eggs on Sunday … Dynamic drag duo Lou Henry Hoover and Kitten LaRue have officially opened permanent digs for their mom and pop sweet stand Chance in Hell Snowballs. The popular snowball stand began as a side-project out of the married couple’s home until they got sidelined […]
If a Café Could Hug: Inside Fatma’s Cozy Corner
Visiting Fatma’s Cozy Corner in the Tremé is a lot like an open invitation to hang out at your best friend’s house. Comfy, high-backed, paisley-upholstered couches are tucked next to the front window, an upright piano stands stolid, waiting patiently to be played in a rear dining room, and a […]
Tumbledown NOLA – Plaza Tower
Sitting empty for nearly a quarter of a century, demolition of the Plaza Tower is long-overdue. I’m a preservationist at heart. When I see neglected properties around New Orleans, my inclination almost always leans heavily toward restoration or adaptive reuse. In most cases, abandoned structures have the potential to thrive […]
New Orleans Food News: April 2025
Erster liquor . . . Brian Weisnicht and Chef Farrell Harrison, the dream team behind Plates on Annunciation Street, have launched another Warehouse District restaurant on Tchoupitoulas Street dubbed Maria’s Oyster & Wine Bar. Located in the space that held N.O.S.H, or New Orleans Social House, adjacent to Tommy’s Wine […]
Out-Of-The-Box Bánh Mì
Restaurants in New Orleans going against the grain with offbeat bánh mì. Affectionately known as Vietnamese po-boys, bánh mì have arguably become as quintessentially New Orleans as crawfish étouffée and Bananas Foster. The infusion of Vietnamese culture into the current Crescent City gumbo happened after the fall of Saigon and […]
New Orleans Food News: March 2025
Full of beans . . . Chef Maya Mastersson has been tapped to head the kitchen at the new restaurant inside Beanlandia, headquarters for the Krewe of Red Beans. What began as a small marching parade glorifying a local Monday-night tradition was catapulted into an organization built by and for […]
Antoine’s Restaurant: A Crown Jewel in Carnival’s History
An informal tour through one of the city’s most revered landmarks and their krewe-designated dining rooms stirs a sense of wonder for the spectacle of Mardi Gras. The masquerade ball scene in the 1984 film Amadeus, based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, teems with masked revelers adorned in […]
New Orleans Food News: February 2025
To die for . . . Owner Phi Vu, a local actor best known for his work in Happy Death Day, launched his Korean fried chicken pop-up in late November 2023. Now he’s launched OPPA Korean Fried Chicken inside the tiny shop on Severn Avenue, formerly Wishingtown Bakery and longtime […]
Tumbledown NOLA: State Palace Theater
Distracted by opulent mansions in the Garden District and heavily-dressed fried shrimp po-boys, it took me a few months after moving here in 2003 to realize New Orleans was a neglected city. When I worked up the courage to journey beyond self-delineated safety zones, I began to notice the crumbling […]
New Orleans Food News: January 2025
Taco ’bout sushi . . . The dream team behind the Nori Guys pop-up, home of the sushi taco, have opened a brick and mortar restaurant in Mid-city called Hibachi Grill. Owners Kenny Truong and Nigel Pais recently opened their new digs on the corner of S. Broad and Banks, […]